Paris 2024

Charley Hull hoping Olympics smoking ban doesn’t make Paris tournament a drag

‘It is just something I do . . . it relaxes me a little,’ says Team GB golfer

Charley Hull smokes a cigarette during the first round of the US Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Charley Hull smokes a cigarette during the first round of the US Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Ewan Murray in Paris
Tue Aug 06 2024 - 18:01

How do you define a sport? Critics of golf during this perennial pub debate say anything you can smoke while participating in does not meet the criteria. It transpires a golfer cannot smoke at the Olympics; just ask Charley Hull.

Images of Hull, cigarette dangling from her mouth, went viral during the US Open this year. This conjured memories of elite golfers from a bygone age. Hull went well in the tournament, posting a top-20 finish.

Hull will be back in the spotlight from Wednesday at Le Golf National, as the women’s Olympic golf discipline tees off. There will be no repeat of ciggie-gate as Hull dons Team GB colours.

“I do smoke on the course,” said Hull on Tuesday. “It’s a habit but I won’t do this week. Yeah, it is just something I do.”

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Pressed on why there will be no nicotine boost on the outskirts of Versailles, Hull replied: “I don’t think you’re allowed.”

Hull is correct. Paris 2024 organisers have stipulated that all Olympic venues are non-smoking. In this context, Hull is treated no differently to anybody outside the ropes watching her play. Not that she appears totally satisfied by the rule. “I think it will,” said Hull when asked whether the ban will affect her. “Because it relaxes me a little bit. But it is what it is.”

The 28-year-old is equally ambivalent towards the noise that was generated by the US Open. “I don’t actually go on Instagram,” she said. “I haven’t gone on Instagram in about four or five months. I don’t go on social media or anything. I just let my agent do it.”

Georgia Hall joins Hull under the Team GB banner. The United States’ Nelly Korda, who won gold in Tokyo, is the hot favourite for the event.

Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow tee it up for Ireland, with Meadow in the first group out at 8am Irish time alongside Perrine Delacour of the host nation France and Belgium’s Manon de Roey. Maguire will play alongside Hall and South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, with the three-ball teeing off at 11.17am Irish time. – Guardian